"I was right to send back the money;—wasn't I, Will? Say that I was right. Pray tell me that you think so!"
"I don't understand it at present, you see; I am no lawyer."
"But it doesn't want a lawyer to know that I couldn't take the money from him. I am sure you feel that."
"If a man owes money of course he ought to pay it."
"But he doesn't owe it, Will. It is intended for generosity."
"You don't want anybody's generosity, certainly." Then he reflected that Clara must, after all, depend entirely on the generosity of some one till she was married; and he wanted to explain to her that everything he had in the world was at her service,—was indeed her own. Or he would have explained, if he knew how, that he did not intend to take advantage of the entail,—that the Belton estate should belong to her as the natural heir of her father. But he conceived that the moment for explaining this had hardly as yet arrived, and that he had better confine himself to some attempt at teaching her that no extraneous assistance would be necessary to her. "In money matters," said he, "of course you are to look to me. That is a matter of course. I'll see Green about the other affairs. Green and I are friends. We'll settle it."
"That's not what I meant, Will."
"But it's what I mean. This is one of those things in which a man has to act on his own judgment. Your father and I understood each other."
"He did not understand that I was to accept your bounty."
"Bounty is a nasty word, and I hate it. You accepted me,—as your brother, and as such I mean to act." The word almost stuck in his throat, but he brought it out at last in a fierce tone, of which she understood accurately the cause and meaning. "All money matters about the place must be settled by me. Indeed, that's why I came down."